The Renegade

actually feel trashed from the past week.... better make sure to recover well between workouts this coming week. 

Temple hill repeats was what we did today. Same as the week before Simplot (8x200m, 2:30 rests, pretty steep) We jogged up there right away after the team meeting and did our warmup drills. We had quite a group of people out for it. Temps were nice, prolly mid 40s. I started with Jack (he said he would pretty much just stick with me on em, although he isn't too much fitter than I am) So I got through them without too much grief until the last one where Ryan, a sophomore, took the lead and ran like a 28, I tried to cover his move but I literally couldn't. In the last one fourth of that sprint I tied up so bad and couldn't go any faster. I still ran like a 32. I was on the ground for a few minutes after that, I just couldn't get up and I was in a lot of pain. I had to walk back down the hill slowly because my glutes were still on fire. Layed down with my legs up a bit, Jack massaged them some, and they felt better. Got up and after about 10 minutes we jogged back to the school, did strides on the turf, then hip drills and stretches. Lastly Paul and I rana mile barefoot and that was it.  I would put down the exact splits but I think I lost my watch (my timex not the GPS don't worry) so I'll put them on here later if I find it. I think I averaged like a 33 mid tho, my previous best was 34 flat. 

I'm gonna take it super easy tomorrow. Here's something my freind Mark Summers (serving a mission in Argentina) said in an email today: "Remember, the season ends the [third] week of May, that is a long time. Be careful, don't get burned out".  I think I'm gonna be careful. 

Easy recovery today. We did our hip drills and core first because there was a soccer game about to start, and then we headed out on our run towards First Dam. I wanted it really easy today and didn't want any big hills, so Paul and I cut through Merlin Olsen Park and then ran up Canyon Rd., then got on the canal on the way back, where we me the rest of our team and Isaac turned around with us. On the way out I made sure we didn't go under 7:30 pace. It was kind of hard not to but it's a good strategy to use for a recovery run. Picked it up with Isaac though. 7:14 ap, so a bit faster than I would have liked but the way we ran it, I feel well recovered. My inside left shin was kind of bothering me the whole time, that's the first time I've had shin problems all season. Probably from goin 5 over last week. When we got back we did 4x100 and then I jogged a lap to make it six. Ice cupped my shin, so hopefully that'll help. We have another threshold tomorrow.  

I realized today that I'm the only guy on our team that doesn't train in basketball shorts... lol

We ran our usual threshold/tempo today in River Heights and Providence. I tried to jog up slowly. Bout a mile and a half warmup. After our drills we started and I told Paul we should go out relaxed and conservative at the start, so we drafted behind Davis because it was windy (and kinda cold brrr). That made sure we weren't under 6 minute pace the first half mile. I thought Davis was doing the three mile loop but it's his first week back so he did two miles. It was going to be fun to drop him so I was a little dissapointed (I know that sounds mean). Paul and I stuck together for the rest of the time and I let Paul do most of the work. It was great because I got a pr on the 10th East segment, 5:53 pace for 4th ranked. I didn't feel any kind of burning in my legs. They were tired by the end but not the lactic acid tired. Our splits were 6:07, 6:03, 5:58. Jack freakin ran a 17:02, he killed it. We ran like 18:08. I was planning on just doing another mile after that but I felt good so I went 2 with Paul. Again we stayed together and we ran 5:58 and 6:05 splits (downhill then up coming back). Again, it felt good! We jogged back slow and did strides on the turf. Finished with bench and squats. We have a killer track workout on Friday that I'm actually looking forward to. 

.5 miles team warmup, hip drills, and then a super slow group run of about ten of us on the river trail. I'm glad we went slow because of the workout tomorrow and it felt super hot. So that was a 4 mile run 7:55 avg, it was great to chill and it's a nice day out. Back at the track we did 4x100m sprints w/ 300m jogs, that brought the run down to 7:45 ap. It's funny because we've left the track everyday so far and everyone else has only seen us running really slow or doing short sprints, so they must not think we do much, lol that'll change tomorrow. After the strides was some hurdle mobility drills, it was good to do those again. Finished with a bit of core and stretching. 

The much anticipated track workout was today. It was a nice temperature out, but it was overcast and gloomy, which I don't like. It psychs me up more when the sun is shining brightly against blue skies. Oh well. Did a little less than a mile warmup and drills. Then after coach explained the workout the team got started. It was 4x1000m @ 3200 pace w/ a 400m jog in 3 min rest, full recovery, than 4x400 @ 1600 pace w/ same rest as before. I got started and heard big loping steps behind me, it was Ryan, he's new to the team but he's done decent. He sat on me until the 4th rep where he fell off pace. My times I hit were 3:26, 3:24, 3:20, 3:20. I wanted to get 3:20 average because thats my pr pace but I think that it is really hard to hit 3200m pace on those. I felt good for the first one, kind of good for the second one, and the next two just hurt bad. I am not going to gauge that for my 3200 next week, like I said I really think it's just hard to hit that pace, and it's my first track workout in a while.

After the recovery and spiking up, I started the 400s. Tried to stay relaxed for the first one, so I was happy when it was a 68. Next two I pushed it a little more but at basically the same effort for both of them, and hit 66s. On the last rep Coach Strand ran with me which I was really glad about because he helped push me. I went out hard for the first 200 and was like oh crap this is gonna hurt, but the next half went by pretty fast. That was a 62. One of these days I'm gonna dip below 60 in a workout I'm sure. But after that I was hurting alot and was on the ground in a fetal position for a couple minutes. I feel like if you do that once, you will do it at the end of every single hard workout. So there's some advice lol I already have the habit bigtime. 65.5 avg. (aprx. I didn't get the decimals). So that very much exceeded mile pace it's 4:20. I figure if I can do those at 4:20 pace pace than I can run a 4:40 mile. 

Got up, got the "skin shoes" on and did 4 barefoot laps on the turf. Then the team did hip drills and Jack and I went in the training room and took an ice bath, I have'nt taken one in a while, so it was shock but I'm glad I did it. I'll be in Salt Lake tomorrow, I think I wanna do my long run somewhere cool but we'll see. (sorry for the long entry)

Today I went on a moderate paced semi-long run up City Creek Canyon (SLC). It was super cool, I just wish it was dirt and not pavement. Once I found the right path, I went high scvens up the canyon and low 6s down. Felt decent, but my left foot was bothering me going up, kept having to rub it out a bit. Once I turned around it was all good. It was fun going down, but I knew I was giving my shins a beating. Beautiful day, a little hot actually.